Lesson Plan: Addressing Historical Race-based Injustices

OVERVIEWIn this lesson, students will study the land reform program in Zimbabwe and explain their ideas about whether or not white people today should be required to make amends for historical race-based injustices for which they were not personally responsible. Students will then apply their thinking to how the United States today might address racial inequities that have resulted from discriminatory policies and practices for housing and property ownership.

For background information on Zimbabwe, its land reform process and discriminatory housing practices in the United States, please see the Resources section of this lesson.

The clips used in this lesson are from the film Mugabe and the White African, a documentary that shows how a white family fought in international court to keep its farm in Zimbabwe after President Robert Mugabe’s government cancelled its title deed, declared ownership of the farm without providing any compensation and then used violence and intimidation to try to drive the family out. Please be sure to preview the film if you plan to show all of it to your class, as a number of scenes and images are quite intense.

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FILM CLIPSClip 1: “Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Program” (length 4:59)The clip begins at 20:55 with the words, “The problems for us here on Mount Carmel began…” It ends at 25:54 with the phrase “…that these farmers now currently have.”

ACTIVITY1. Show the class a map of Africa and point out the location of Zimbabwe. Tell the class that the country was a British colony until 1980. Explain that during colonial times, it was common for the country’s small population of white people to take the best land for farming, leaving smaller areas of less desirable land for a large population of black peasant farmers. By the time Zimbabwe achieved its independence from Great Britain in 1980, 6,000 white farmers owned 47 percent of the country’s agricultural land, while more than 700,000 black farmers owned, leased or occupied the rest. (See Background Information.) Discuss:

What is the relationship between owning land and power?

Imagine that it is 1980 and Zimbabwe has just achieved independence. What should the new government do, if anything, to address the legacy of inequity in land ownership that resulted from white discrimination against black Africans?

2. Tell the class that when President Robert Mugabe took power in 1980, his government began addressing the inequity in land ownership by buying up white-owned farms and redistributing them to black peasant farmers. By 2000, however, Mugabe’s popularity was waning. In an effort to attract more supporters, he began an aggressive land redistribution policy, under which his government declared immediate ownership of all farms without providing compensation, and then began driving out white farmers through violence and intimidation.

3. Show the class the video clip “Zimbabwe’s Land Reform Program” (length 4:59), which explains in part how the land redistribution process in Zimbabwe affected the Mount Carmel farm owned by a white man named Mike Campbell and his family. Focus student viewing by asking students to listen for what these farmers believe President Mugabe’s motivation is for the involuntary land seizures.

4. After watching the clip, discuss:

Why do the Campbells think President Mugabe is seizing white-owned farms?

Why do you think President Mugabe would want white farmers out of Zimbabwe?

Do you believe the government of Zimbabwe should be able to take away the property rights of white farmers as part of what they say is an effort to make up for policies in the past that discriminated against poor black farmers? Putting it more generally, do you think white people today should be required to make amends for historical race-based injustices for which they were not personally responsible? Explain.

Should the land reform process take into account that the Campbells purchased their farm after Zimbabwean independence, rather than inheriting it from British colonizers? Why or why not?

In your view, is it acceptable for people of different races to be treated unequally in certain circumstances? Explain.

5. Show the class the video clip “It Is Distinctly Racially Discriminatory” (length 2:02). Focus student viewing by having students watch for who is receiving the farms seized by the Zimbabwean government. Afterwards, discuss:

What is your reaction to finding out that the farms seized involuntarily from white farmers are being given to President Mugabe’s family and supporters, rather than to poor black farmers?

How might such gifts benefit Mugabe?

Does knowing that Zimbabwe’s land reform process is corrupt change your views about the justice or injustice of seizing white-owned farms? Explain.

6. Point out that the United States has also had a history of discriminatory policies and practices related to property ownership that has resulted in racial inequities. Help the class learn more about such discrimination by giving each student a handout, dividing the class into six groups and assigning a topic from the handout to each group. Students should then research their topics and record their findings on the handout.

7. Have each group report its findings to the class, so that all students can complete their handouts. Discuss:

How are the historical race-based injustices in the United States and Zimbabwe similar? How are they different? Capture student thinking in a Venn diagram.

What steps do you think should be taken to address any racial inequities in the United States that have resulted from housing discrimination? Brainstorm and prioritize a list of recommendations. Do any of these measures infringe on the rights of others or treat some races unequally? Is that acceptable if the idea is to achieve equality eventually? Explain your thinking.

8. Conclude the lesson by having each student choose one strategy from the class list of recommendations and explain how its implementation would affect him/her and/or his/her family.

If class time permits, replace the guided discussion at the beginning of the lesson with an authentic research activity that will give students more background on the history of Zimbabwe. Use a KWL chart to focus student research, and then have them use POV’s timeline of Zimbabwe’s history, background information and other resources to gather information and report on their findings.

Compare the land reform process in Zimbabwe to eminent domain policies in the United States. Have students break into small groups to study Eminent Domain Cases and then write persuasive essays that address the question “Under what circumstances does a government have the right to force citizens off their land?”

Explore other POV and PBS films that address African land reform and issues of race, genocide and related issues of justice and healing. For each film, background information and educator resources are available online.

Promised Land illustrates the land redistribution challenges taking place in South Africa.

PBS. “Your Home Is Your Future.”This resource provides a brief summary of how specific U.S. government policies and past discrimination have limited access to home ownership for African Americans and other people of color.

Student ActionAfrica Action Student NetworkThe Africa Action Student Network is a community of student activists across the country committed to mobilizing and advocating for U.S. policies that promote political, economic and social justice in Africa.

Amnesty International. “Students and Youth.”Amnesty International USA’s youth members (ages 14 to 25) undertake public demonstrations and letter writing campaigns, as well as teach-ins and face-to-face meetings with elected and appointed officials.

STANDARDSThese standards are drawn from Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science and Technical Subjects

SL, 9-10, 11-12.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on [grade-appropriate] topics, text and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.

RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.

RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

RH.9-10.9 Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary and secondary sources.

RH.11-12.9 Integrate information from diverse sources, both primary and secondary, into a coherent understanding of an idea or event, noting discrepancies among sources.

WHST. 9-10, 11-12.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization and style are appropriate to task, purpose and audience.

WHST. 9-10, 11-12.7 Conduct short as well as more sustained research projects to answer a question (including a self-generated question) or solve a problem; narrow or broaden the inquiry when appropriate; synthesize multiple sources on the subject, demonstrating understanding of the subject under investigation.

These standards are drawn from “Content Knowledge,” a compilation of content standards and benchmarks for K-12 curriculum by McRel (Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning)

Standard 29: Understands the struggle for racial and gender equality and for the extension of civil liberties.

World History

Standard 43: Understands how post-World War II reconstruction occurred, new international power relations took shape, and colonial empires broke up.

Standard 44: Understands the search for community, stability, and peace in an interdependent world.

Standard 45: Understands major global trends since World War II.

ABOUT THE AUTHORCari Ladd, M.Ed., is an educational writer with a background in secondary education and media development. Previously, she served as PBS Interactive’s Director of Education, overseeing the development of curricular resources tied to PBS programs, the PBS TeacherSource website (now PBS Teachers) and online teacher professional development services. She has also taught in Maryland and Northern Virginia.